{"id":121,"date":"2009-02-09T02:02:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-09T02:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/terragrafix.com\/blog\/?p=121"},"modified":"2009-02-09T02:02:00","modified_gmt":"2009-02-09T02:02:00","slug":"open-letter-to-the-emeryville-city-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/?p=121","title":{"rendered":"Open Letter to the Emeryville City Council"},"content":{"rendered":"

To Mayor Dick Kassis and members of the City Council:<\/p>\n

I heard that Mayor Kassis recently warned the Emeryville Chamber of Commerce about “outside forces.” Exactly who are these “forces”? I presume he means the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, and those of us who live in Emeryville and criticize the decisions of the City Council.<\/p>\n

We have not had any local, in-depth news coverage for the 11 years I have lived here. The only “newspaper” has been the The Emeryville Connection<\/span>, put out by the Chamber of Commerce. Finally, several residents have started The Secret News<\/span>, which informs residents of city developments, and our mayor has the nerve to call us “outside forces”?<\/p>\n

Some council members have been in office far too long. They have become accustomed to calling the shots and paying only lip service to those who dare speak out against them. One member of the City Council does not pay his business license tax, is in arrears on his property tax, and fails to clean up his own property, thus forcing the city (the taxpayers) to foot the bill for the cleanup. That same council member was on the payroll of a company doing business with the city, yet sees no conflict of interest. He says he is broke. My suggestion to him is that he should, like the rest of us, look for a job. Yet his irresponsible behavior is supported by the City Council majority. Why? I suppose so they can hold on to that majority.<\/p>\n

Residents are cordially invited to attend meetings (myself excluded. I often don’t receive notices about meetings on crucial issues concerning the north Emeryville area, where I live. I am either omitted from the mailing list altogether, or told that the city had the wrong address for me), yet when they do, their suggestions and concerns are not heeded. No wonder many residents, myself included, have stopped attending meetings.<\/p>\n

I am presently trying to raise money from family, friends, and neighbors to obtain bookcases on wheels for the Anna Yates School library, where I have volunteered for the past four years. In my plea for money, I explain that if the City of Emeryville provided more money for the schools (we only have two), instead of giving Starbucks $60,000 to cover move-in costs, an undisclosed amount of money to Pac N’ Save so they can “upgrade” to a Safeway, and <\/span><\/span> tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies to developers, <\/span><\/span>I would not have to beg my friends for money. Why should Emeryville taxpayers subsidize publicly traded corporations? The City Council sees that the city will get revenue from development, but none from the schools. But what they fail to see is that the children who attend these schools are the future of Emeryville, if they can actually afford to live here when they grow up.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>It’s time for change in Emeryville.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shirley Enomoto
Emeryville resident<\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n